Tipping the Velvet

Nan King’s world changes when she sees Kitty Butler perform. An oyster girl drawn to the music halls, Nan becomes captivated by a woman whose stage act opens possibilities she has never imagined for herself. Meeting Kitty leads to work as her dresser, then a move to London and a place beside her in a performing partnership. Away from the audience, their connection becomes a love affair. The excitement of a new career and a new city is entwined with the vulnerability of loving someone whose public life is carefully staged. This historical novel follows Nan into a world of performance, desire and reinvention, with a relationship between women at the centre of her transformation.